Knauf, which started to produce building materials as a mining family company in 1932, manufactures the engineering products required for structures, whose sustainable and environmentally effect is minimized with its eco-innovation activities in more than 200 production facilities in the world.
Today, the environmental impact of mining activities is a matter of debate. Adopting a sustainable environmental understanding with the right mining practices is a phenomenon that Turkey is also working on intensively like the whole world. Despite having a mining background, Knauf, a global player in building materials today, is moving with the “Reclamation of Nature and Environmental Rehabilitation” philosophy in the mines it operates in Turkey, as in the whole World.Acting with the mission of sustainable mining and leaving a healthier world for future generations, Knauf aims to contribute to the sustainable world by bringing the products and production technologies it has developed with the philosophy of eco-innovation to the construction industry.
“Sustainability is a must for us”
Knauf General Manager Ali Türker said, “As Knauf, we have carried out studies to sustainably use the emerging by-products in the construction industry, especially in global studies to minimize the environmental impacts of sulfide gas. Together with Babcock Noell, Knauf developed the Synthetic Plaster technology and built the first systems to produce artificial plaster.We offer sustainable construction technologies to the world with synthetic plaster technology to reduce mine inputs by using by-products obtained with the developed process.”Knauf General Manager Türkermentioned that, “Today, Knauf uses several million tons of synthetic plaster as secondary inputs in the production of building materials globally. With this win-win approach, while the sulfur emissions released to the nature as a result of energy production are taken under control, the calcium sulfate, which emerges as a by-product of flue gas desulphurization (FGD) process, is properly processed and provides the construction of sustainable structures.”
“Recycling in Knauf is a production philosophy”
Recalling that many industrial production facilities released high amounts of waste heat and vapor in the production processes to the atmosphere as required by their production technologies, Türker said: “Hot gases released into the atmosphere have both negative impacts in terms of environmental impacts and plant efficiency. Waste energy, which can be recovered through the application of the right engineering and technologies and reused in production processes, protects national and natural resources by creating a greener and more economical production economy.With this awareness, Knauf continues to strive to minimize its environmental impact with the co-generation and regeneration technologies used in its global production facilities, andkeeps innovation and technology investments and eco-innovation alive as a corporate culture. Knauf, which makes recycling a production philosophy,not only recovers energy recovery, but also recovers its Alçıpan® product inputs, which are registered trademarks and used frequently in modern buildings, in line with the right engineering practices and constantly improves its efforts to minimize environmental impact by reducing production inputs.Environmental product performances are declared with EPD Certificates, which are prepared by competent expert teams,that Knauf products also own and all environmental and recovery effects are calculated during the product life cycle of Knauf products after they are extracted from the mine.”
On the other hand, underlining that only 2.5 liters of every 10,000 liters of water in the world are drinkable, Knauf General Manager Ali Türker stated that every drop of water is important to leave a healthy, sustainable world for the next generations.Stating that Knauf also focuses on the use of water in modern building technologies, Türker said, “While minimizing the sectoral environmental effects by reducing the water usage during the building manufacturing with the dry building systems we are constantly improving, we are adding new ones every year to our global works that can minimize environmental impacts with recycling and rainwater use technologies on production lines.”
Knauf, with a turnover of over 10 billion Euros, 220 production facilities and sales offices in more than 80 countries, with 28,000 employees worldwide, ranks first among the world’s leading construction materials manufacturers with dry building systems, plaster and accessories, insulation materials, floor systems and screeds, plaster, and stirrer machine systems. Knauf Turkey, which is located in Southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa region and is the center of regional management, is among the most important players in the region with its strategic location and high turnover.
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